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18
Arrangements for dealing with Declarations of Health.
Ships bound for London coming up the English Channel take on a pilot off
Dungeness, those coming across the North Sea take on a pilot at the Sunk Lightship,
near Harwich. The Elder Brethren of Trinity House kindly agreed that pilots should
deliver copies of the Declaration of Health to the Masters of the ships they boarded,
but stipulated that pilots should not be held responsible for any failure on the part
of the Masters to comply with the instructions of the Port Sanitary Authority.
Accordingly supplies of the form of Declaration of Health are sent from time to time as
necessary to Trinity House, whence they are sent to the Pilot Stations for distribution.
Although the pilots accept no responsibility they have co-operated willingly and
conscientiously, and consequently the arrangements are working satisfactorily.
The Customs Officers at Gravesend and Sheerness are kept supplied with
Declarations of Health, as also are the Boarding Medical Officers and the Sanitary
Inspectors.
When the Eegulations first came into force copies of the Declaration of Health
were sent to the Shipping Companies having vessels trading regularly into London,
for distribution to their ships, but since the pilots have played their part so well there
have been no calls for renewal of these supplies.
The instructions to Masters are printed on page 4 of the Declaration of Health,
and are as follows:—
INSTRUCTIONS.
The Master of a foreign-going ship approaching a Port in England or Wales from a Foreign Port must
ascertain the state of health of all persons on board and fill in and sign a Declaration of Health in the
prescribed form.
If the answer to any of the questions on page 1 is "YES," or if the ship has sailed from, or during
the voyage called at, any of the following Ports:—
Ports in ASIA, including JAPAN, the EAST INDIES and CEYLON, AFRICA,
including MADAGASCAR, the CANARY ISLANDS and CAPE VERDE ISLANDS,
TURKEY, GREECE, BLACK SEA, AZORES, SOUTH AMERICA, CENTRAL
AMERICA, GULF OF MEXICO, WEST INDIES
free pratique will not be granted by His Majesty's Customs until the vessel has been visited
by the Port Medical Officer.
The Master must therefore:—
(1) Send a wireless message to "PORTELTH," LONDON, stating the name of his vessel and
the time* she is expected to arrive off Gravesend. This message must be sent off not
more than 12 hours and not less than 4 hours before the arrival of the ship. (If
wireless is not carried the Port Sanitary Authority must be notified of the arrival of
the ship as soon as possible.)
(2) By day, when within the Port of London, hoist the flag signal L I M, meaning Port
Medical Officer required;
By night, when approaching Gravesend, flash letter " Q " repeatedly from the morse lamp.
(3) Be prepared to muster the crew for inspection by the Port Medical Officer.
(4) In the case of vessels bound for the Medway, the wireless message must be sent to
"PORTELTH," LONDON, but must be as follows:—
"(Name of vessel) (Time of arrival) Sheerness."
(If the answers to all the questions on page 1 are "NO" and the vessel has not called at any of the
ports mentioned above the Master need not communicate with the Port Sanitary Authority
unless directed to do so by a Customs Officer.)
The maximum penalty for breach of the Port Sanitary Eegulations, 1933, is £100.
CHAS. F. WHITE,
Medical Officer of Health,
Port of London.
*Name of ship as one word. Time on 24-hour clock.
Every vessel from "foreign" is hailed by His Majesty's Customs off Gravesend.
When a ship is boarded by one of your Medical Officers he collects the Declaration of
Health. The Customs Officers take the forms from the ships which are not medically
inspected and the Boarding Medical Officer collects them each evening when he makes
up his list of arrivals from the Preventive Officer's log. The day's batch of forms are
then posted to the Port Sanitary Office together with the Medical Officer's other records
and reports.